Israel Took Golan for Farmland, Dayan Reportedly Said
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JERUSALEM — Discounting accounts of the Golan Height’s strategic value, war hero Moshe Dayan once told a reporter that Israel took the plateau from Syria because Israelis wanted it for farmland.
Dayan ranked his 1967 decisions to capture the Golan Heights and allow Jews to return to the West Bank city of Hebron as his two greatest mistakes as defense minister, according to a newly disclosed interview given by the legendary Israeli general in 1976, five years before his death.
At Dayan’s request, reporter Rami Tal kept his notes on the interview secret until recently, when a friend persuaded him to publish them in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper this month.
Israeli settlements in Hebron and possession of the Golan Heights remain one of the most divisive issues between Israel and the Palestinians and Syrians respectively.
Israeli leaders have said the Golan Heights are too important to Israel’s defense to return.
However, Dayan said pressure from Israel’s farming communities led to the land grab. About 14,000 Israelis live there today.
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